24. Chapter Twenty Four

Bo sighed from somewhere behind me, and I felt something hovering over my shoulder and shocked, turned to see his face. He gave a slight, attractive smile and said "I wrote that one a few years ago, it was my first." I turned and gaped at him

"Your first!?! If I had written that, I'd of submitted it somewhere and made my living off of it!" He chucked and said

"We'd better get a go on, we can wait for everyone." Complying, I moved my hand out and took his warm hand. He smiled slyly. "Shall we?" I straightened my neck and stuck my chin out a bit,

"We shall." We strolled to a hallway where Finn was waiting, as soon as he saw us he blurted

"I think the sandwiches blew up- I just heard a bang, I have to go!" And he ran away, down the corridor.

"How do sandwiches blow up?" I asked, lowering my eyebrows.

"It can happen." Said Bo, not making eye contact. I narrowed my eyes.

"Have you ever blow up a sandwich?" He avoided my stare and looked down the hallway. Clicking came from behind us and I spun around. Maro was walking towards us, her shoes clicking on the ground, her face as stern as before, maybe even more- if that was possible.

"What are you all doing?" She demanded, folding her arms behind her back.

"We are all going to go on a hike!" Said Bo energetically. "You know, to get some endurance for... training." He said, pausing as Maro began to walk past us, she passed two girls walking towards us. Eliza and... someone else. They were both dressed in jeans and flannels, sneakers. Bo took his hand out of mine, I quickly turned to look at him as he put his hand in his pocket.

"I have to spare my brothers," he whispered, " If they see us, and decide to try, it'll be a nightmare." I gave a half smile, slightly hurt on the inside, and slunked to the corner of the hallway, leaning against the wall, arms crossed over my chest watching Eliza and Bo and the other girl interact . Soon enough all of the girls came and all of them seemed to be ready.

I volunteered to hold the ultimate backpack of food on my back, one reason to be behind everyone. As we set out through the grand front doors, me in the back, making sure I was the last to leave. Bo quickly stalked up next to me.

"Why not the front? They need someone to lead."

"You know the way," I pointed out. "I don't"

"But every know-er needs a partner!" He smiled and gave me a thumbs up. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"What does that even mean."

"We can start by eliminating what it doesn't mean." He said, still grinning. "Come on." He said, then tugged me to the front of the mass of people.

'You've got me to the front." I pointed out as we left the castle grounds, and began the short hike across a field to where the forest began. "Now what." I stomped through the tall grasses, trying to ignore the itchiness that this would later set in.

"We sing."

"What?"

"We sing." He repeated, tilting his head to the side a little bit.

"No, I understand that part, but what do we sing?" I asked, my cheeks flushing a little as he looped an arm through mine.

"Tunes of our land." He said proudly.

"I can't believe you just said 'tunes'."Was my only response as he began to sing the anthem. About nine repeats later, when we were just about to cross into the woods, I as kindly as I could, told him to shut up. Instead, he began to explain this word game to a group of girls behind him.

"I went on a picnic and I brought an Anteater." He started, then looked at me, eyebrows raised. I sighed and said,

"I went on a picnic and I brought an anteater and a.. banana." I finished lamely. The next girl went and soon enough the whole group of us, all 21 of us were playing, and once we finished the first alphabet, we began to repeat, so after the anteater to zoo, it went anteater to zoo to anaconda, and so on and so forth. It seemed endless. And when we began the hike up the large hill, and everyone was looking back at Finn, who was trying to remember the words, Bo tucked his hand in mine and gave it a quick squeeze, then put it back in his pocket. My heart fluttered and I was a bit more energetic to the game.